Biography

Before establishing himself in the Exchequer, Farnham had begun to build up estates. In 1548 he bought a lease of the possessions of St. Mary the Virgin in Leicester from the duchy of Lancaster, in the next year he became bailiff of the property once held by the bishop of Lincoln, and in 1551, now resident in London, he purchased Denby manor in Yorkshire, which he soon resold at a profit. After his brother-in-law (Sir) Thomas Chaloner had surrendered his tellership of the Exchequer in his favour, Farnham was able to compete even more vigorously in the land market. The chantry land at Quorndon came to him with the grange of Stoughton and other properties in the neighbourhood.4

Farnham was probably returned for Leicester through the influence of his relative the recorder. He opposed the initial measures to restore Catholicism. Among the friends he was to name in his will was Thomas Sackville, whom Farnham asked to devise a suitable inscription for plate to be given to the 3rd Earl of Huntingdon. It was presumably Sackville who recommended Farnham to his father (Sir) Richard Sackville II for the seat at East Grinstead to which he was returned at a by-election on 10 Feb., 21 days after the assembly of Parliament. He died at Holt on 4 Sept. 1562. His widow married Francis Saunders.5